After Pearl Jam achieved superstar status in 1992, its guitarist Stone Gossard teamed with drummer Regan Hagar to launch Brad as a side project. Vocalist Shawn Smith and bassist Jeremy Toback completed the lineup, and the quartet tracked its debut album that October. Issued in April 1993, the album Shame drew mixed reviews and modest sales. Four years later the band issued Interiors, which sold poorly yet attracted a growing cult following. While their primary bands remained inactive, Brad toured in support by opening for Ben Harper. Although devotees embraced the record, another six years passed before the group reconvened. With Mike Berg replacing Jeremy Toback on most tracks, Welcome to Discovery Park appeared in August 2002. After an Australian tour the following year, Brad began recording a fourth album titled Best Friends?, yet the finished tapes stayed unreleased until 2010. In 2005 the band put out Brad Vs. Satchel, an informal set of unfinished demos drawn from both Brad and vocalist Smith’s concurrent project Satchel. In October 2007 Kevin Wood of Malfunkshun began sitting in occasionally on additional guitar; his role stayed informal and loosely defined. Momentum increased once Best Friends? finally emerged on Monkeywrench Inc. in August 2010. The band’s fifth studio album, United We Stand, arrived on Razor & Tie Records in early 2012. Smith died at home on April 3, 2019, from a torn aorta and high blood pressure. At the time of his death Brad had already been developing new material, and the group later confirmed that its 2023 release, In the Moment That You're Born, would serve as the final album.
